I thought I'd Lost You
by Stargate-Lover-Steph
Summary: The team have to pull together to help one of there own out. Episode tag fro 1x21 You'll Do. Major spoilers.


**AN- Here is my episode tag from 1x21 You'll do. I have to say BonesBird and I have spent a lot of time debating the end of this episode. At first I pointed out we never actually saw Savannah get shot so she may still be alive but after watching the preview for 1x22 and the title of the episode I got to go with the plan...I say she dead. Anyway on with this episode, as always please read and review.**

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Of all the people Christopher LaSalle trusted and there wasn't many, Dwayne Pride ranked at the top. After receiving the call from his brother and making the gruesome discovery in trunk of his brother car the first person he called was Pride. He knew that no matter what Pride would be there for him, take his side and help him sort this mess out.

When Pride got the phone call he was not best pleased. He hadn't been in bed long and he sure as hell didn't want to get out and leave the women currently sleeping in his arms. Somehow he managed to untangle himself from her and tuck her back in without waking her. He knew whatever Christopher had called him for it must be important. After getting ready he took one last look at the sleeping form in the bed before kissing her forehead and slipping out the bedroom to go see what was so important.

When he finally arrived and saw Christopher standing at the trunk of Cades car and the body of Cades girlfriend in the trunk he wasn't sure what to say Christopher. When he got out of bed to come down he had to say he was not expecting this. After listening to what Cade had told Christopher, Pride just shook his head. Pride pointed out this was not there case and not their jurisdiction. He even asked Christopher why he had called him and not NOPD. Christopher was adamant his brother was not guilty and he was going to prove.

When NOPD turned up after Pride called them he managed to get them to agree to let Christopher bring Cade in for questioning. Christopher was not best pleased but there wasn't much else to be done. After driving Cade in he stood with Pride and watched Cade being questioned. It did not look good for Cade and he wasn't helping himself with tossing in information about some other guy after being questioned for an hour. It looked like a desperate ploy to divert away from him and take some of the heat of. In observation Christopher was losing his temper and Pride ended up asking him to step out the room. Once he did Pride for NOPD to agree to a joint investigation with NCIS riding shot gun which was better than nothing and he knew Christopher would understand that.

Back in the morgue things did not look good for Cade. With what Loretta was finding as she started her autopsy and Sebastine running prints on a piece of rope found that matched rope marks in the victim's neck it would have been an open and shut case had it not been for the fact this was the LaSalle brothers and they both need the team to prove it was not Cade.

When morning came Pride got NOPD to send over the case files and crime scene photography. As he came down the stairs he saw Brody stood pulling the info up on the plasma on the wall. When she asked Pride where Chris was Pride told her he was trying to get some information out of Cade about the is other man he was mentioned when he was was the first time he had really seen her since he left her last night and now it was work heads on and focus.

Brody was trying to stay objective with the case but it wasn't working all too well. He knew her to well and could tell something wasn't sitting right with her. Pride could understand to a point as she did try to step away and focus on the case not the people. He couldn't do this, this was Christopher LaSalle, his friend, colleague and side kick. When he asked Brody what was wrong she didn't hold back which he knew she wouldn't. She pointed out the mounting evidence against Cade and how bad it looked. Deep down Pride knew she was right but he was going to point out the fact that Cade was family and he needed them.

NOPD managed to arrange a meet with the dead mother which Pride and Brody did. The mother was sure it was Cade as well but she did offer up a couple of names of past boyfriends who her daughter had. Arriving back at the office they found Christopher was back so Brody went through the names they had just got with him. They were just about to go to the bar and show them photos around before Pride stopped them. He needed Christopher off the case and as luck would have it a case with agent Percy came up. It would keep him out the way just like he said he would. As expected Christopher was not happy but went to meet agent Percy while Brody went to the bar and Pride went to see Loretta and the the Police.

When Pride arrived at autopsy he went over what Loretta had and it was not good. When Sebastian added in blood tox screen results it went from bad to worse. Sebastine pointed out his job sucked due to what he had found but Loretta pointed out it was job. He shared the information he had and it made Cade look even more guilty.

Brody was at the bar showing the photos to the bartender when she received a call from Chris. Through the static of the call she worked out he was at Wendy house, the one place he should not be was the dead girls house. Leaving the bar she headed over to Wendy's and found him inside turning the place upside down. Chris asked Brody if she had managed to track the last boyfriend but she said she couldn't get through on the phone. When he suggested calling again they reasoned there was a problem with the signal which was probably cause by bug. The searched and found the bug but it turned out to be a hidden surveillance camera instead of a bug. They needed to call Pride. This was good news and Nepal news she knew when pride got here there would be trouble for all of them Christopher for not staying away and her for not phoning him and telling him what Christopher was up to.

When he arrived he listened to what they had before he lost it. First to get it was Christopher for not staying away and compromising evidence. He was furious with him and after tearing a strip of him he demanded he go to the car and wait there till they were done. Now it was Brody's turn to face the wrath of one very pissed of Pride. As he turned to face her she saw he kept his sunglasses on when he spoke. She wanted to see him even as he tore a strip of her for not calling him.

How could she have went from by the book to this? She knew what position she would put him in by going rouge. He could tear a strip LaSalle no problem but her! He had never had to discipline her for any work misdemeanours before yet now he did he didn't know how to do it and keep it professional. When he left her the night before after tucking her back up in bed he never thought he would be in this position now. He kept his sunglasses on due to the fact he knew if her took them she would see her dressing down was both professional and personal. She would see in his eyes how hurt he was she had went behind his back and he didn't want to cross that line at work.

"You should have called me the second you knew he was in that apartment" trying to keep his temper in check.

What was she supposed to say to that when she knew he right. She hated not being able to see his full face so she could tell how he felt. On saying that maybe keeping them on was for the best as she knew if he took them sunglasses of she would be able to see in his eyes how he felt. It was time to suck it up and admit she was wrong.

"I know, I'm sorry." Was the best she could say as she was sorry she hadn't called him. " You still want to do this even though nothing is admissible?."

So she knew they were screwed and she was sorry. At least she had said she was sorry which she didn't do often. He couldn't deal with the his now so he decided work was there priority now so he said they would still try and see if he offered up anything that could be used. After talking to man who had installed the video camera he gave them a flash drive with apparent proof that Cade LaSalle murdered Wendy.

Taking the flash driver back Pride and Christopher watched the footage and it did look like Cade had had a fight with Wendy. Brody checked out the apparent alibi only to come up empty, no one could corroborate he was where he said he was. Chris was getting too involved in the case and he needed to back off. Pride told him to focus on the case he was working on with agent Percy and he would get in touch with later. Pride have the flash drive to Brody to give to Sebastian while he went to talk to Cade.

Pride spoke to Cade and found out the argument he had with Wendy was over the guy that was bothering her. He believed Cade and he told him they would work out what had happened. In the mean time Christopher went and got the low down on the case he had and he arrange to be in place to bring the guy down when needed.

Sebastian had been running tests on the flash drive and after gathering together the NOPD officer heading the case and Brody he showed them how the flash drive had been tampered with. Brody called Pride and the three agents went to pick up the suspect together since it was joint case.

On arriving the three agent made there way up to the house with the police officer hanging back a little. After Brody knocked and Pride called out the heard a shout from and caught sight of their suspect making a run for it. The three offices gave chase but as the came to the main road there was a bicycle race taking place and the road was blocked by bike passing by. Managing to find a gap the NOPD officer gave chase while Pride and Brody ran up behind. As they approached the road running Pride saw there was still a large amount of bikes passing by and out of instinct he put his left up and across the front of Brody to stop her running straight out.

A gap suddenly appeared in the bike race and Pride and Brody ran across and gave chance again. They watched as both officer and suspect went flying to the ground in a tackle as Brody drew her weapon and took aim at the suspect. Pride got the job of chasing the laptop. Stepping down the embankment the saw the laptop and bent down to pick. It wasn't till he had it his hands and went to stand up do he see the big alligator just a foot away. Slowly he withdrew and as soon as it was safe he turned and made his way back up to the other agents.

After more questioning and more digging they ended up back at square on with their suspect. His alibi checked out so they were still left with Cade as a suspect. This was not going well at all. While Christopher worked his case and brought it to a close the others still worked away at find a way to prove Cade was not guilty. Brody sat going over the evidence on the computer, cases files and photographs to see what if anything she could find. It took some looking and she nearly missed it but she found a clue after sat staring at the evidence for an hour. The necklace, it wasn't there before she died but was when she was found.

Phoning Pride she told him what she found and also told him she had found evidence linking another three dead women to Wendy. She told him there was a witness for the last murder and she had and address. She told him the address and he told her to go check it out. He was on the way down to see Loretta and Sebastian when he bumped into Christopher. Christopher was telling Pride his case was done and dusted when Sebastian came tearing out of autopsy and hugged LaSalle. Between him and Loretta they had found new evidence. After running a new tox screen they found that Cade had been drugged which explained his memory loss. Cade wasn't responsible for Wendy death and they had proof now. The only thing they had to go on was the bartender as he was the one who should have poured Cades drinks. Heading out the door Pride asked for an address which Christopher pulled up. As Christopher read out the address total panic took hold of him. He had heard that same address being relayed to him not half an hour ago over the the phone. He only had one objective now,

"BRODY." He ground out as he set off running.

Brody made her way up the stairs and knocked on the door. The music was loud but after calling out she heard a voice shout back to come in. On entering she was greeted by a young women and still very loud music. After introducing herself she asked to speak to the witness that was in the last murder case. It turned the women in front of her was the woman she was looking for. The woman seems surprised that case was still being investigated. It was when the woman turned around to walk away that Brody saw a tattoo on her right shoulder that matched the pattern on the necklaces found in the dead victims. Slowly without trying to draw suspicion to it she slid her hand around her back and was about to slot her fingers round her weapon when she heard a click from behind her and she turned to be greeted with the bartender from the bar with a shawnough shot gun in his hand pointed straight at her.

Now she was in trouble and she couldn't do much about it. As she was made to drop to her knees and the woman started to tie her hands up. Looking round she spoke to the bartender and asked him about the other murders and who enjoyed it the strangling the most. As she talked it distracted the two people from the fact she was moving her wrists and working her hands free.

As they drove over Pride got them to run a check on the bartender and his girlfriend. It turned out it wasn't the boyfriend who had the record it was girlfriend. If Prides panic levels were not already elevated they went sky high now. Brody was there at the house with those people, he needed to get there and make sure she was okay. He could not and would not lose her, not now he finally had her. As they drove over he got Christopher to ring her but it kept kicking to voice mail. This could not be happening, he needed her not just in his team but his life. He speed up instantly, he needed to be there already.

Finally Brody managed to work her wrist free and quick as lightning she levelled the woman with a mean right hook to the jaw followed by a few more blows to knock her down so she could grab her weapon and wrestle her at the same time. Finally she had her weapon back and she used the girlfriend as a shield till she could figure a way out of this mess without getting shot off the boyfriend. Making her way backwards she caught site of the me moving outside just as he took aim at her. She managed to dodge the shoots and threw the woman aside as she took aim and fired. Four shots later he was dead on the back porch. The problem was she had let go of the women who had moved away from her. Slowly making her way around the house she kept her wits about her and she was lucky she did. She was surprised by the women who appear and brought up a weapon she must have went to get. She had a clear shot but so did the women.

Pride screeched the car to a halt and jumped out quickly followed by Christopher. As they made their way up the house they both heard a series of shots ring out. Again he was running as he said her name and directed Christopher to take the back. As he walked up the stairs weapon raised the site in front of made his panic disappear. Standing half down the hallway was Brody with her weapon in her hand looking down at the body of the woman. He had hold fast to himself as he stepped further in and looked Brody over. The look on her face spoke volumes at what she thinking. She had yet again faced down suspect and lived to tell the tail. Yes she had took two lives but it was either there's or hers and at that moment in time she had a reason to keep living and he was standing just a few feet away. She could make out the instant relief seeing she was okay but she also caught him checking her over to make sure.

There was no blood so she was unharmed that he could see. Putting his weapon away he looked at her and spoke the only three words he had wanted to say since he left the lab.

"Let's get you outta here."

She couldn't agree more as she looked at Christopher who was now level with her as he entered from the back door. As they all walked down the steps together as LaSalle thanked his friends and colleagues for standing by not just Cade but him. They had come through and proved Cade was innocent and thanks to Brody's quick thinking and good aim Wendy's killers were now dead. Pride had called in NOPD to clean up as it was back to a civilian case once they had Brody's statement. As Brody sat in the trunk of Prides car giving her statement she could see Pride standing not to far away. He was hovering and she knew why. They hadn't really seen each other or spoke much these past few days and after what just happened he was worried. Even though he could see she was physical fine she knew he needed to hear it himself. Finally after forty minutes she was done and she signed her statement so the office walked away.

Pride was beside her like a shot, sitting down next to. She saw him do a quick sweep of who was around before taking her hand in his. Even when he had her hand in his she could see he wanted more. She gave a quick glance round and stood up bringing him to his feet at the same time. Closing the trunk over she came to the back door of the car and opened it. Nodding for him to get in she followed him in and shut the door. As he shuffled closer to her he realised why she had chosen the back of his car, tinted windows. She smiled at him when he realised they couldn't be seen and soon found herself cocooned in his arms.

"You do know these past couple of days you have had me from one extreme to the other. I went to shout at you for not coming to me about where Christopher was then you nearly go and get shot. You have no idea the hell I have been... " but she cut him off before he got worked up enough to go and on by kissing him ever so gently.

That was all it took to stop him and they both knew it. Soon he was kissing her with all he had before they broke apart breathless. As she snuggled her head in to his chest she had to admit this was definitely worth staying alive for. She was happy everything had worked out well for Chris and Cade and now she was cuddled up to Pride after escaping and being shot at. Life couldn't be better for her now.

As she kissed him he knew he had lost his argument as her lips felt so soft and warm against his. He couldn't help kissing her back as he held her close. When they broke for air and she buried her head in chest and he had to smile, she fitted so perfect there against him. He thought for one harrowing moment he had lost her and he knew it wouldn't be the last time they were in a situation where she was in the same predicament. Kissing her head he let her stay tucked against him till his phone rang. Pulling out his phone he saw Christopher's name on the screen. What on earth did he want? The last he heard Chris was going home to Savannah. He was dubious about answering the phone now but it was Christopher so he would answer. No one could phone him twice in the same week with the same or similar news...could they.


End file.
